We were driving down highway 29 on the outskirts of Spartanburg, SC when we saw a man who appeared homeless walking down the street with a woman. We called out to him and asked if he wanted a little work cleaning out the bus. The man, who later told us his name is Monk, ethunsiasticly replied "Hell yeah!".
We pulled into the parking lot of a Family Dollar and let Monk and his girlfriend begin cleaning the bus. We also gave Monk a haircut and told him about how we were walking from Atlanta to D.C. to raise awareness about poverty and to tell the stories of people experiencing homelessness and poverty. Monk said he and his girlfriend would like to tell their stories for the documentary.
After we finished with Monk he went to get his girlfriend. Monk came back with an elderly woman and told us his girlfriend was camera shy, but he had brought us Granny instead. And that is how we met Lena "Granny" Jaynes.
Granny is one of those people who just looks tough. If remember correctly, she said she is 52 years old. Her age showed in her slow step and worn face, but Granny poured her heart out on homelessness in the back of that Family General Parking lot.
"Nobody should ever have to go through the hell I went through. 15 years of hell, but by the grace of God I made it."
Granny became homeless after moving from North Carolina to South Carolina to take care of her dying mother. After her mother passed, her step dad kicked her out onto the streets.
"I was alone. I had nobody. I had nobody but God. I've slept under bushes, I've been on the streets, I've even gotten food out of trash cans before."
We asked Granny what she thought the hardest part about being homeless was.
"The hardest part about being homeless is taking a bath. Cleanliness is close to godliness. If you don't get a bath you go around stinking."
She told us with tears in her eyes about how people would look down on her because of her appearance.
"There's some cruel, cruel people. They say things like 'You stink , get away from me.' and 'Your breath stinks. Don't you have toothpaste?' Yea I have toothpaste, but I ain't got no water."
Granny told us she was an alcoholic. We asked her when and why she started drinking.
"I became an alcoholic at the age of 21. I had a nervous disorder thing. Because my daddy was a bad alcoholic. Daddy would beat the hell out of me. So did my step mom. I took 18 years of beating. I used alcohol to take away the pain and now I'm addicted."
We asked Granny how people like us could help people who are living in homelessness and poverty.
"God does not make no accidents. Pray for those people. Give them a hand I'd you can. You ain't hurtin no one. They ain't either. Just give somebody a helping hand if you can. Take them to the grocery store and buy them a sandwich. Don't let these people get in the dumpster and eat. Look, there are people out here who have to sleep with rats, roaches, all kind of bugs. No one, no human deserves to live like that. It doesn't matter what color you are. No one deserves to have to live like a dog, cause God didn't make no trash."
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Granny now has a place to stay and has overcome homelessness, but not poverty. She is living off social security checks and food stamps. She says the only thing that got her through homelessness was God.
Granny doesn't think anyone deserves to go through what she went through. She says God doesn't make mistakes. So we should stop treating people like mess ups and start treating them like humans.